In the Netherlands, traditional wooden shoes known as klompen remain a common footwear choice in farms and villages. Holland.com, the Netherland's official website, states that Holland manufactures 3 million pairs of wooden shoes each year. Since the climate in the Netherlands tends to be cold and occasionally damp, the wooden shoes offered more protection for the feet, which is why they have been used as part of the Dutch people's native dress for many centuries.
Dutch Christmas Crafts
Instead of filling stockings with gifts, Sinter Klaas, the Dutch Santa, places gifts in the children's wooden shoes. For wooden shoe decorations for kids, give each child a piece of 8.5-by-14 yellow card stock and an 8-by-11 piece of red felt. Help them trace and cut a wooden shoe out of felt using the template found in the resources section. After cutting, place glue around the front, back, and bottom of the shoe and paste it onto the cardstock. Leave the top part, where a foot would go, open so that it can be filled with a treat. Encourage them to decorate the poster with candy canes, holly leaves, and other symbols of Christmas. Hang the children's posters around the room and place a candy cane in each one on St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6.
Create your own foam board wooden shoes to fill with treats. See resources for templates for wooden shoes. Cut the template out and have children trace two shoes on their foam board and cut them out. Place the two shoes together, one on top of the other, and decorate them with paint pens or markers. Staple around the edges, leaving the top of the shoes open. Encourage children to place their shoes near the fireplace or heater. At night, fill the shoes with small trinkets and gifts.
Dutch Costume Craft
If your class is studying the country of Holland, a dress-up day wouldn't be complete without some representation of the wooden shoes. Give a 24-by-13 piece of yellow posterboard to each child. Have them trace two copies of a shoe pattern on the posterboard and cut it out. Staple the small end of your pattern together to make the heels of the wooden shoes. Fold the tips of your shoes up to make the characteristic pointy end of the wooden shoes and tape them into place. Place the shoes onto the child's feet (over shoes works well) and poke a small hole on each side so you can string elastic through them. The elastic will help secure the shoes. Children can decorate the shoes as they see fit.
Related Posts:
Wooden Shoe Crafts For Kids
Once an essential Dutch footwear, today's wooden shoes are used primarily for decoration and crafting.Wooden shoe crafts for kids allow the creation of unique, unusual craft projects. Originating...
Make A Wooden Shoe Tree
Wooden shoe trees maintain the shape of your shoes, keep them from curling and cracking and absorb moisture left behind by your feet. Cedar is the best wood for this use as it also leaves behind a...
Make A Dutch Shoe Craft
Make a colorful wooden shoe craft that can be loaded with goodies.Wooden shoes play a prominent role in the celebration of Christmas in the Netherlands. The Dutch Sintirklaas, or St. Nicholas, arr...
Make A Wooden Shoe Last
Caring for wooden shoes is the best way to make them last.The best way to make wooden shoes last longer is to provide proper care for them. You can also help increase the life of the shoes by taki...
Dutch Crafts To Make
Dutch Crafts to MakeWe often think of tulips when it comes to making Dutch crafts. Other things that come to mind are wooden shoes, windmills and the traditional hats. You can incorporate all of t...
